Saints of Lorain carries the DNA of Cleveland underground punk band Al & the Coholics, but this is no simple reunion. When Al & the Coholics exploded into Cleveland's underground scene in 1999, they were young, pissed off, and had nothing to lose. The music was raw, unfiltered, and unapologetic.

The road traveled hasn't been easy. They lost friends and brothers who couldn't outrun their demons. The most painful turning point came with the death of drummer Jonny Blood in 2014.

What started as Saints of Lorain accidentally became something bigger. After original Saint Todd Styles had to step away in 2023 due to health issues, they went searching for a guitarist, and after a year they landed two. Rejoined by original Coholic Greg Melnyk and longtime scene veteran Dill Hams (The Episodes, Hemmingway Hammers, Hams). Together, they brought power, speed, and soul into the new lineup.

The result was unexpected: the band had unintentionally reformed much of Al & the Coholics, but with a new identity and purpose. When they made the decision to add their music from the Coholics, they didn't just revive old songs, it meant a promise drummer Rob Young had made to his late brother Jonny years earlier, that the music would never die, could finally be kept.

Beyond the losses and the year-long search for guitarists, there was the reality of what came after: integrating new players while shows were already booked.

They'd been through guitarists before landing Greg Melnyk and Dill Hams, and each time meant starting over. Every new face in the room meant proving themselves all over again, not just to audiences, but to each other. Dill came on board first in January 2024, followed by Greg in March, who took the stage with them for the first time that May.

Once Greg joined, something clicked. It was natural being back in the same room with the original Coholics, Al, Nick, and Greg together again after all those years, and it helped Dill find his footing fast. What had felt like two separate additions suddenly became one cohesive unit.

From January to September 2025, they were in the studio recording what would become their next chapter. The result: Before We Were Saints, a prequel looking back at who they were, and Those Dark Roads, their debut 12-track album, marking the descent into the years that followed. They released it digitally on July 13th, 2026, the 12-year anniversary of Jonny Blood's passing.

Saints of Lorain doesn't fit neatly into any category. They're not a nostalgia act trading on past glory, and they're not trying to reinvent punk rock. What they do is simple: they play honest, fast, and loud. What sets them apart is authenticity that can't be faked. They've lived it. Every lyric. Every riff. Every beat. This isn't borrowed rebellion or manufactured anger. It's the real cost of a life spent refusing to compromise, and the music sounds like it.

You can look back at who you were, at the mistakes, the pain, the consequences, without being trapped there. That past isn't a prison unless you let it be. Before We Were Saints was the recklessness. Those Dark Roads was the reckoning. Whatever comes next for them isn't owed to the past. The story has been told, the promise kept. Where it goes from here doesn't have to be written by grief at all. It's just wherever the music takes them.